The headings in the 2
previous chapters are set up on the basis of the gist of the
meanings that the attributes and predicates of citta
throughout the canonical texts mark out. Their being put into
discussion, therefore, is on account of textual occurrence. The
headings in this chapter, on the other hand, arise out of
ideological interest, be it of ontology, psychology, ethics, and
metaphysics. In fact, they are essential aspects of citta
as the title of this chapter states, and require deeper analytical
and critical study that will be attempted at in the following
pages.

1. Where does
Citta come from?

The ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BUDDHISM warns us that
the question regarding the origin of consciousness is the most
difficult one. The early Indian thinkers as well as some of the
modern scientists have considered the origin or emergence of
consciousness a mystery. This prompted them to attribute such
origin to superhuman creation. In the following pages we shall
elaborate upon the issue on the basis of the information yielded
by the Nikāya texts. The elaboration would be in accordance
with the identification of the three terms citta,
viññāṇa, and mana, by the canonical literature
[1] attributed to the Buddha himself. The
traditional identification would allow us to consider the three as
identical and interchangeable in use.

(a) From Saṅkhāra

Saṅkhāra is one of the most difficult
terms in Buddhist metaphysics, in which the blending of the
subjective-objective view of the world and of happening, peculiar
to the East, is so complete that it is almost impossible for
Occidental terminology to get at the root of its meaning in a
translation. Here, we just state briefly certain ideas about its
three lexically basic meanings.

First, it denotes an aggregate of the
conditions or essential properties for a given process or result,
such as āyusaṅkhāra (the sum of the conditions or
properties making up or resulting in life or existence), or as
kāyasaṅkhāra, vacīsaṅkhāra, cittasaṅkhāra
(essential conditions, antecedents or synergy, mental
co-efficients, requisite for act, speech, thought, respectively).

Secondly, saṅkhāra as one of the five
khandhas can be rendered as accumulative dispositions that
decide which direction one's personality is going to be in.

Lastly, saṅkhāra in popular meaning
implies the mental constitutional element as well as the physical,
although the latter in customary materialistic popular philosophy
is the predominant factor. Saṅkhāras are in the widest
sense the "world of phenomena", i.e. all things which have been
made up by pre-existing causes.

Saṅkhāra as dispositions described
above in the second meaning is considered the most important
element in a discussion of human personality. The Saṃyutta
Nikāya says that disposition is so-called because it processes
rūpa, which has already been dispositionally conditioned,
into its present state. This statement is repeated with regard to
vedanā (feeling), saññā (perception), saṅkhāra
(dispositions), and viññāṇa (consciousness)[2].
Saṅkhāra is the complementary factor to the more passive,
receptive phase of consciousness.

In the somewhat later elaboration of doctrine
in the Abhidhamma, this constructive aspect is reserved for
the first-named of the 52 elements of consciousness comprised
under saṅkhāras, namely, cetānā that can be rendered
as volition[3].
So dispositions in the Sutta Nikāyas as well as in the
later texts take the decisive position for itself and for all the
remaining 4 khandhas (constituent factors of an
individual). While dispositions are themselves causally
conditioned, they process each of the five factors of the human
personality, thereby providing them with the stamp of
individuality or identity. Hence the most important function of
individuating a personality belongs to the dispositions, which are
inalienable part of the personality. In the most extreme way they
can function in creating an excessively egoistic tendency
culminating in the belief in a permanent and eternal ātman
(self). This may be one reason the Buddha considered the self as a
mere "lump of dispositions"[4].

Dispositions determine our perspectives.
Without such perspective we are unable to deal with the sensible
world in any meaningful or fruitful manner. The Buddha, however,
realized that subdued dispositions are enlightened perspectives -
hence his characterization of nibbāna (freedom) as the
appeasement of dispositions.

D. J. Kalupahana is of the opinion that the
dispositions, while carving an individuality out of the immensity
of sensible ocean, also play a valuable role in the continuity of
experiences. The development of one's personality in the direction
of imperfection or perfection rests with one's dispositions.
These, therefore, are the determinants of one's viññāṇa
(consciousness)[5],
a less active phase in one's mentation process. That can be
considered the reason why saṅkhāra is the preceding link of
consciousness in the paṭiccasamuppada series, and is the
preceding khandha in the numbered dhammas of five
khandhas in which viññāṇa comes up after the former in
the succession. In other words, in the origination of viññāṇa,
saṅkhāra takes the most important and active role.

(b) From Upādāna, Āyatana, Anusaya

First, what is upādāna? Upādāna
(nt.) is formed by upa+ā+dā. The term literally means 'that
(material) substratum by means of which an active process is kept
alive or going', fuel, supply, provision[6].

The verb corresponding to upādāna is
upādāyati, which means "heap up", "bind", "kindle". It
must, therefore, mean something like "grasp", "collect", and
"build up". The Saṃyutta Nikāya says, "He is called an
Ariyan disciple who reduces and does not heap up; who abandons
and does not collect; who scatters and does not bind together; who
quenches and does not kindle"[7].
The function of upādāna seems to be suggested by another
passage in the Majjhima Nikāya, "While he, observing the
satisfaction, is attached, bound and infatuated, the five
upādāna-factors go on to accumulation for the future"[8].

In the paṭiccasamuppāda context,
upādāna is defined by enumerating its four parts: (1) the
building up of love-relations, (2) of speculation, (3) of rules
and rituals, and (4) of a soul-theory. These seem to represent
aspects of personality formation. The first part, i. e. building
up of love-relation stands for habits of sense-gratification, a
dependence on the world: a pleasure-loving personality. The second
one stands for collection and remembrance of information and
observations in order to explain the world, absorption in
theoretical construction. Hence an abstract and speculative type
of personality. The third one stands for those that may become
important and dominate life: compulsive mind; and the last one
stands for one's misunderstanding about oneself, as a result, he
builds up an ego-image and project it into eternity; this is again
an edifice of mind.

So in terms of Dependent Origination we can
say that conditioned by upādāna there arise compulsive mind
and edificed mind[9].The
two kinds of mind mentioned above are just aspects of mind (citta)
as the resultant tendency that is resulted from total tendencies
of one's personality in the process of re-becoming.

Yes, in the paṭiccasamuppāda context,
upādāna is the closest link that conditions the next one
bhava, and bhava stands in the position of and can be
identified with gandhabba a phase of viññāna, which
is synonymous to citta, given that viññāṇa is the
strongest candidate for the executive chief in the process of
re-becoming. In other words, it is not exactly that viññāṇa
comes from upādāna but the generation of viññāṇa is
directly conditioned by upādāna.

About the upādāna in the connection of
mind and personality, R. E. A. Johansson in DPEB gives a
supportive account for the above said. His exposition can be
shortly paraphrased as follows: upādāna is the ninth link
in the conventional paṭiccasamuppāda series, conditioned by
taṇhā, "thirst", "craving", and a condition for bhava,
"becoming", as long as the five khandhas are regarded as
the coming personality. Its function is, generally speaking, to
bridge the gap between craving and production.

So upādāna is closely connected with
the process of, and preparations for, rebirths. "At the time when
a being lays aside this body but is not yet born into another body
- this I say is built on craving. For craving becomes at that time
upādāna (agent) for that"[10].
This point is clearly confirmed by another passage from the
Majjhima Nikāya: "Whatever is ambition and desire (chandarāgo)
for the five upādāna-factors that are upādāna of
them"[11].
This passage seems to yield out that upādāna would simply
express the intensified wish that itself can be sufficient cause
for certain type of rebirth[12].

The failure of Sāti in grasping
properly the doctrine of dependent origination of all saṅkhāra
as taught by the Buddha got culminated into his misunderstanding
about the nature of viññāṇa, looking upon it as immutable
entity surviving life after life. The Buddha reproved him, saying:
"Now then, foolish man, whence got you such a doctrine as being
teaching of mine? Have I not taught you by many methods that
viññāṇa arises from a cause; and except from a cause,
viññāṇa cannot come to be?... And viññāṇa is designated
only in accordance with the condition causing it: visual
viññāṇa from the seeing eye and the seen object; auditory
viññāṇa from the hearing ear and the sound... manoviññāṇa
from mano and mental object. Just as a fire is different according
to the kind of fuel..."[15].
The above passage in a nutshell contains the whole of the Buddhist
theory of the origination of viññāṇa, in which cakkhu:
the seeing eye and rūpa: its specific seen object... and so
on are inevitable for the arising of viññāṇa.

Another numbered dhamma or more
exactly the unwholesome motives that have much to do with the
arising of viññāṇa are anusayas. Anusayas are
sometimes misunderstood as the sub-consciousness in the parlance
of psychoanalysis because they imply the dormant or latent
disposition. PTSD defines them as bent, bias, proclivity,
and the persistence of a dormant or latent disposition,
predisposition, tendency of mind leading to various kinds of evil
inclinations. The term anusaya, derived from the root
anusi to lie, connotes 'to live along with' or 'to cling to'.

Buddhaghosa says that a passion is
called anusaya because of its pertinacity. Seven such
tendencies are numerated: (1) kāma-rāga (sensuous lust),
(2) paṭighapratigha (grudge), (3) diṭṭhi
(speculative views), (4) vicikicchā (skeptical doubt), (5)
māna (conceit), (6) bhavarāga (craving for continued
existence), and (7) avijjā (ignorance)[16].
Among the unwholesome motives anusayas are always in bad
sense. In the oldest texts the word usually occurs in a
grammatical absolute structure where there is no mention of the
cause or direction of the bias.

In addition to the above seven, some other
tendencies are also mentioned: ahankāramamankāra-mānānusaya[17]
(tendency to pride that produces 'I' and 'mine'),
sakkāya-diṭṭhānusaya (tendency to form a theory about an
individuality), sīlabbataparāmāsānusaya (tendency to cling
to duties and rituals), byāpādānusaya (tendency to
agressiveness)[18].

All the above mentioned terms refer to
undesirable traits and with one exception they seem to belong the
area of consciousness rather than behaviour. As in other similar
enumerations, no distinction is made between different functions
of consciousness: The three anusayas, kāmarāga,
bhavarāga and byāpāda seem to belong to the area of
motivation proper; the two anusayas, paṭigha and māna
are emotional ones; diṭṭhi, sakkāya-diṭṭhi and
avijjā are cognitive, sīlabbataparāmāsa may refer to a
type of behaviour or attitude, and the rest to combinations of the
areas. There are few indications in the texts to show what types
of activity are produced by the anusaya. It is, for
instance, said in the Saṃyutta Nikāya that "the tendencies
to pride that produces 'I' and 'mine' have been rooted out from
the venerable Sāriputta; therefore a deterioration and change even
in the Teacher would not give rise to grief, lament, suffering,
sorrow and despair"[19].
The presence of anusaya would, then, in this case produce
emotional attachment.

The Nikāya records that "what one
plans, intends and has a tendency to, that becomes a basis for the
establishment of viññāṇa"; the next passage of the text
corrects this and says that a tendency is enough as basis for the
establishment of viññāṇa[20].
From these passages we can conclude that anusaya figures
rather strongly as condition for the emergence of viññāṇa.

(c) From Nāma-Rūpa

Rūpa occurs frequently in two
contexts, namely, as the first khandha and in the compound
nāma-rūpa that is one of the links in the
paṭiccasamuppāda series. In stereotyped flow, nāma-rūpa
is said to be conditioned by viññāṇa, and is itself a
condition of phassa (contact). The Saṃyutta Nikāya
says that sensation, ideation, will, contact, attention - this is
called name. The four elements and the form depending on them -
this is called rūpa[21].
The nāma-part has a certain similarity to the four last
khandha-factors and consists of central psychological
functions. The meaning of rūpa is probably the same in both
cases, namely "body"[22].

Nāma, therefore, in a specified
meaning is defined as a metaphysical term opposed to rūpa.
It comprises the 4 immaterial factors of an individual. These as
the noetic principle combinated with the material principle make
up the individual as it is distinguished by "name and body" from
other individuals. Hence nāmarūpa is identical with
individuality, individual being. These two components in an
individual being are inseparable[23].

Rūpa terminologically covers form,
figure, appearance, principle of form. According to Pāli
expositors, rūpa takes its designation from rūpati
which is (not quite correctly) given as "change". Its rendering
'form' is opposed by modern interpretations and discussions; and
as better philosophical terms 'matter' and 'material quality' are
recommended. Rūpa- (as prefix) means of such and such a
form, like, kind, of a certain condition or appearance. In this
application rūpa is very frequent and similar to English -hood,
i.e. an abstract formation. As philosophical technical term
rūpa refers to principle of (material) form, materiality,
visibility. There are various groups of psychological and
metaphysical systematization, in which rūpa functions as
the material gross factor, by the side of other more subtle
factors[24].

Now, let us go to the meanings that the term
citta suggests. On one hand, citta is sometimes used
in a way that suggests a personal identity from existence to
existence. The Udāna says, "Without understanding the
thoughts of his inner sense he runs with restless citta
from existence to existence". Hence citta seems to signify
a surviving entity[25].
This is one end of the spectrum. On the other hand, citta
is clearly used for thought processes. Citta is called
samudaya-dhamma (something that comes to be) and
vaya-dhamma (something that passed away)[26].
As mentioned above, one extreme is the decision that citta
is surviving entity from existence to existence, the other extreme
is that citta is merely a thought or an idea. It seems to
be that 'middle path' should be relative. In R. E. A. Johansson's
opinion, citta typically has meaning between these
extremes, referring to a personal psychological factor responsible
for the unity and continuity of the human being but without any
suggestion of permanence substance[27].

But in terms of the latter extreme, the
Saṃyutta Nikāya says, nāmarūpa-samudayā cittassa samudāyo[28]:
Citta (as a thought) arises as a result of the arising of
name and form. It is interesting to note that this is one among
the rare contexts in which citta is said to arise from a
cause[29];
that cause being nāma and rūpa. In the same line,
elaborating upon the manner in which viññāṇa comes to be,
the Buddha says that it is dependent upon nāmarūpa[30].

The Buddhist system considers the five
khandhas as conditioned processes[31].
In the Saṃyutta Nikāya, they are clearly defined in
process-terms. The body is "the four elements and the form
building on them... The body is produced from food"[32].
"There are six groups of sensations: sensation produced by contact
with the eye, ...with the ear, etc."[33]
In the same way, saññā, sankhārā, and viññāṇa
are defined as sensory processes and classified according to sense
modalities. We conclude this section with the Buddhist conviction
that all of the khandhas are derived from phassa
(contact) with the unique exception that viññāṇa is derived
from nāmarūpa[34].

(d) Origination of Citta

The ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BUDDHISM supplies us
with authentic ideas about the origin of citta: Citta
is not a metaphysical entity in the sense in which entity is
defined as a thing's existence as opposed to its qualities and
relations. Citta is included under the generic term
dhamma and all dhammas which consist of the five
Aggregates of Grasping (pañcupādānakkhandhā) arises
invariably as a result of the collocation of a wide variety of
causal factors[35].

While recognizing the difficulty of providing
a philosophical solution to this age-old problem, and yet not
assuming the existence of a superhuman creator, the Buddha
explained the emergence of consciousness as a natural causal
process denying that consciousness would emerge in the absence of
the necessary conditions[36].
In the Majjhima Nikāya emergence of consciousness is
compared to the arising of fire, which depends upon various
conditions such as dry-wood, etc. This analogy of fire should not
be taken to mean that the Buddha accepted the reductionism that
would consider fire to be stored up in the form of energy in the
material that goes to produce it. In fact, on another occasion,
the Buddha insisted that an extinguished fire does not get stored
up elsewhere[37].

The Buddha has in various ways spoken of the
independent origination of the mind and has also stated that there
is no arising of the mind except through the collocation of causal
factors[38].
The Madhupiṇḍika Sutta sets out clearly the causal
connection between the conceptualising activity of the mind and
the birth of illusions, obstacles, obsessions and hindrances to
spiritual progress: dependent on mind and mental object there
arises mental consciousness: the coming together of these three is
contact; conditioned by contact there arises feeling; what one
feels one cognises; what one cognises one reasons out; what one
reasons out one becomes obsessed with; on account of the
obsessions the individual is assailed by imagined notions in
respect of what can be known by the mind in the past, present and
future[39].
So the origination of citta or viññāṇa - a phase in
the processes of life of an individual mental and physical as well
- cannot be visualized in separation with the other ones.

2.
The Psychological Subjectiveness of Citta

In ancient Buddhism, there was a faith in
citta as infinitely ductile and plastic[40],
and in the sense-apparatus as so many indriyas - that is,
ruling or controlling things, faculties, not passive as mirrors,
but engaged in clash and collision[41].
Judged by its general usage in the Pāli Nikāya, citta
appears basically to refer to the center and focus of man's
emotional nature as well as to the seat and organ of thought in
its active, dynamic aspect. Citta plays a more central and
crucial role in Buddhism than in any other Indian system of
philosophic thought and religious practice. It is probably to base
on this that citta is defined in its most general sense as
the invisible and incorporeal energiser of the body and as the
activator of the personality of man[42].

It should be reminded here that man in
Buddhist system is a psychophysical combination of nāma and
rūpa (mind and body). Vedanā (sensation), saññā
(perception), saṅkhārā (mental formations) and viññāṇa
(consciousness) are the non-physical factors in man collectively
regarded as nāma (mind) and cattāri mahābhūtāni (the
four great primaries or elements) which are described as extension
(i.e. earth-paṭhavi), cohesion (i.e. water-āpo),
heat (i.e. fire-tejo) and vibration (i.e. wind-vāyo)
are the physical factors in man collectively regarded as rūpa
(body). In Buddhism, the personality of man is conditioned and
sustained by the activity of citta and consequently the
character and destiny of man are also likewise determined by
citta[43].
As being responsible for the character and destiny of man citta
is the center of understanding to which the higher knowledge
called abhiññā is attributed. There are expressions such as
cittena... ñassati[44]
(he shall understand by citta); and aññācittaṃ
upaṭṭhapeti[45]
(he applies his citta to understanding)[46].

In regard to the social life of a person and
the world he lives in citta takes the pre-eminent role,
swaying its ideological leadership. All schools of Buddhism agree
on the primacy of citta in this respect. The pervading
agreement seems to be resulted from the saying, "The world, monks,
is led by thought, is swept away by thought. The world comes under
the power of thought"[47],
which is attributed to the Buddha. More specifically speaking,
citta seems mainly to refer to the purposeful organization of
activities. This unity of purpose is normally a characteristic of
the human individual, but it is also possible to submit more or
less completely to the will or purposes of others; this is in
early Buddhism expressed as a function of citta[48].

In the Nikāyas, citta is viewed
as an arsenal of dispositional properties that take the form of
mental predispositions, proclivities, tendencies and dormant and
latent forces that activate themselves at the subliminal level of
consciousness. This tendency and potentiality to act as and when
occasion and opportunity dictate is termed anusaya. The
moment of explosion and active manifestation is called
pariyuṭṭ-hāna. Citta is also viewed as a conscious
center of activity, purposiveness, continuity and emotionality. In
the context of the teaching on non-substantiality citta may
be considered as the best single psychological term most
appropriate for denoting the character of man's personality[49].

Citta has been functionally subjected
to a three-fold classification represented by the distinction
between the effective (vedanā), cognitive (saññā),
and conative (cetanā). It is categorically stated that the
effective and the cognitive are mental states dependent on
citta. And cetanā clearly is the causative form of
citta (cinteti > ceteti, cetayati > cetanā). The
affective aspect refers to the feeling tone of citta; the
cognitive aspect is concerned with knowing, believing, reasoning
and perceiving; and the conative aspect is concerned with acting,
willing, striving, and desiring. These three aspects do not, of
course, function separately. As mental processes all three aspects
operate all at once by way of concurrent action and inter-action.
Cognition is associated with conation that in turn is bound up
invariably with the hedonic quality to feeling. Manifold are the
functions of citta, moral as well as epistemological[50].

In terms of psychoanalysis, the ego of
human personality which is experienced as the "self" or "I" and is
in contact with the external world through perception. It is the
part, which remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways, is
responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social
world. The ego coexists, in psychoanalytic theory, with the
id and superego, as one of three agencies proposed
by Sigmund Freud in his attempt to describe the dynamics of the
human mind. Ego (Latin for "I") comprises, in Freud's
terminology, the executive functions of personality; it is the
integrator between the outer and inner worlds, as well as between
the id and the superego.

The ego gives continuity and
consistency to behaviour by providing a personal point of
reference, which relates the events of the past (retained in
memory) and actions of the present and of the future (represented
in anticipation and imagination). So the Buddhist citta
reminds us of the Freudian ego as mentioned above in its
function as the center of perceptual and cognitive activity.
"Ideation and sensation are mental processes dependent on citta;
therefore they are called activity of citta"[51].

3. Citta
as Ego being Criticized by Superego

This is a sort of self-accusation or
self-censorship. According to Freud there is a superego,
that is in position to be critical of the ego, so there is
in Buddhism an "I" who may be critical of citta and may
want to subjugate it and change it by means of the Buddhist
training[52].
The individual's identification with his citta is far from
complete. There is frequently a clear distinction between "me" and
"my citta". The text says: "For a long time indeed I have
been defrauded, deceived and cheated by this citta, for I
have been collecting body, sensation, ideation, activities and
consciousness. Conditioned by this collection there was growth for
me..."[53].
Here citta is made responsible for all the false values and
activities that keep the paṭiccasamuppāda development
going. "I" am something different. "I" can see that all this is
false[54].

It is noted that a fool is usually supposed
not to contemplate on the activities of citta so that
citta eludes itself in the guile of himself per se. He
is ignorant of the action of citta. Citta activates
itself through dependent origination but aside of this causal
activity citta in its true nature does not yield itself to
perception and conception[55].

The Theragāthā records the story of
Thera Tālapuṭa who previously was born professional actor of
talent. He led his happy life in the belief that as being an actor
whose performance is to amuse others he should be reborn in the
heavenly realm of laughing. In his interview with the Buddha he
recognized that this was a false belief and became a bhikkhu,
after due study he attained arahantship. It is in the process of
attaining that the interesting dramatic dialogue within him took
place.

Here Tālapuṭa's personality is dualized and
put on the theater stage. And the Theragāthā relates the
loudly spoken dialogue between Tālapuṭa and his citta. In
the dialogue we meet the "I" (Tālapuṭa) who carried out his right
of choice - leaving behind the household life and leading a monk's
one - and his citta who was fraudulent. It can be referred
that as being collected into the canonical text Theragāthā,
Tālapuṭa should not be a monk of low elevation.
Nevertheless, there was still the dissonance between the
appearance of his chosen life and the processes of his inner
spiritual life.

Previously, citta had begged him to
give up worldly life, and he had followed its intention and tasted
the meditational life:

'Tis many years
since thou, my heart, didst urge:
'Come now, enough of this house-life for thee!'
See then! I've left the world. Wherefore, O heart,
Dost lack devotion to thy task?[56]

In general, citta had begged of him
all the good activities including good processes, outwardly of
course but, more important, inwardly. For example, the development
of human capacities, culminating in threefold knowledge in the
Buddha's teaching, of which the final process is release from
influxes, or achievement of the deathless[57].
Citta had begged him of a close observation of the factors
as originally suffering. He should be devoid of their causes[58].
Citta had begged him to stop ceto's preoccupation
with mano by way of insight and to understand the
impermanent as suffering, the emptiness as not-self, the pain as
destruction[59].
In all prescribed circumstances of life, citta had begged
of him the well-controlled self[60].

But he was a man in conflict. Citta
was then tempting him toward the impermanent and transient, called
"cala" whereas "acala" is often an attribute of
nibbāna. In fact, his citta was obstructing him from
reaching his goal[61].
This process within a state of conflict must be calmed down.
Citta, which is formless, far going, wandering alone, must be
guided by the thinking of nibbāna[62].
He had chosen his way of life in obedience with his citta,
and now that same citta begged him to go back to the old
way of life[63].
In a good sense he had done what citta asked of him
throughout many births, knowing that samsāra's suffering
was caused by citta, whether he reached human existences,
deva-like existence, or he reached downward existences[64].
It was all very frustrating and he accused his citta of
playing with him as with a lunatic:

Nay now, thou
shalt not dupe me as of old
Time after time, again, ever again,
Like mountebank showing his little masque;
Thou playest guileful trics with me,
As with a lunatic[65].

He closed his blaming words with the
question, "Tell me, my heart, wherein am I at fault?"[66].
But all this came to an end. This was time for him to make a
summary statement: "To-day that heart I'll hold in thorough
check,"[67].
He had learned by experience. The teacher had made him see things
in the world as they are; "Now, heart, leap forward in the
Conqueror's rule"[68].
This is something new for the process of citta; it was
governed, under the control of the great Seer's teaching. Citta
will be well guarded and developed, without support in any
existence[69].
In the last three stanzas we hear the last fading echo of
the conflict between him and his citta, because citta
had led him around instead of living with the teaching of the
great compassionate Seer[70].
The echo of the conflict was fading away within a firm belief of a
prosperous future:

Like creature of
the wild roaring at large
In the fair flowering jungle, so thou too
Hast gone up on the lovely cloud-wreathed crest.
There on the mountain, where no crowd can come,
Shalt find thy joy, O heart, for never doubt
But thou shalt surely win to the Beyond[71].

4. Citta
and Emancipation

We have already been in touch with the issue
in the previous chapter but the elaboration then is descriptive in
character and based mainly on the textual occurrences of the key
word citta and the ideas that the text concerned suggests.
In this section the emancipation of citta is further dealt
with in a more analytical and critical manner.

In the Majjhima Nikāya, the word
citta itself or its compounds occurs in around 1,500 contexts,
which can be reduced to some basic coherent patterns. The
important coherence within the Majjhima Nikāya can be
illustrated by the Sutta 148 in which 36 processes,
constituting human beings, are mentioned. Among them are mano,
mind and/or thought, and viññāṇa, mind and/or
consciousness. It is said about either of them that they are
anattā (not-self). Citta, however, is not mentioned,
whereas the idea of this very sermon by the Buddha becomes clear
at the end through the often recurring phrase, "the minds (cittāni)
of as many as sixty monks were released from influxes with no
grasping (remaining)"[72].
Citta here expresses the experience of nibbāna-release.

The "I" that is referred to in the vimutti-process
as it is given through arahant-formula and its contexts
brings into focus citta as being released. Within the
Majjhima Nikāya this is the case recurring in 21 of the 152
suttas. It reinforces the view held by R. E. A. Johansson who
looks upon citta as "the core of our personality around
which all personal processes revolve"[73]
as referred to above.

The understanding of the Four Noble Truths is
responsible for the freedom of citta. In numerous texts of
the Majjhima Nikāya that we read about the mind in the
process of being released; this is the recurrent pattern, 'cittaṃ
vimuccittha' (mind was released), which is preceded by the
realization of Four Noble Truths. The release is of threefold, the
translation running, "...for me knowing thus, seeing thus, my mind
was released from āsavā (influxes) of sense pleasures... of
existence... of not knowing, and in the release my knowledge came
to be 'citta is released...'"[74].

Jan T. Ergardt comments that on seeing
reality as it is, the human mind is released from āsavā.
Through the word āsavā, and its connection with dukkha,
we may see that this threefold release as mentioned above is a
departure from existential suffering in any form. We may also see
the culmination in the knowledge that is built upon the actual
experience of release[75].

The release of citta, in the highest
sense, refers to cetovimutti attained by following the
ariya-magga: the noble path, or by conforming to the
brahma-cariya: the noble life. In this context, the term is
almost always coupled with another term, paññāvimutti[76].
In this state of freedom, citta becomes perfectly free from
all āsavā: "āsavehi cittāni vimucciṃsu"[77].
This refers to the attainment of arahantship, the highest
and the noblest state[78],
the final release from saṃsāra. The term paññāvimutti
appears to be complementary to its preceding term cetovimutti,
and stresses the fact that emancipation of citta is
attained by insight. The person whose citta is thus
emancipated is called vimuttacitta[79].

Cetovimutti, according to
Buddhaghosa, is synonymous with cittavimutti, and is
named for the consciousness of the fruit of arahantship
that is also free from the bondage of all passions. The term
cetovimutti is also used in different contexts with reference
of variant stages of emancipation of mind that is lower than the
perfect freedom referred to above. The different names by which
these stages of emancipation are referred to indicate rather the
means that they are attained with[80].

That the term paññāvimutti appears to
be complementary to its preceding term cetovimutti,
therefore, to stress the fact of emancipation of mind is not fully
satisfactory to readers of the critical types. Hence the two
vimutties are later on further interpreted by R. E. A.
Johansson who assigns equal footing to both of them and somehow
keeps them asunder as this: Cetovimutti is the same as
freedom from desire and attained by practicing "calm", i. e.
samādhi. Paññāvimutti means freedom from ignorance and
is attained through vipassanā, i. e. introspective
observations of the impermanence, impersonality, suffering etc. of
all processes[81].
Another noticeable elaboration on this issue is from D. J.
Kalupahana who attributes cetovimutti to the attainment of
nirodha-samādhi: state of cessation[82].

Cetovimutti is described by suññā,
animitta, and appaṇihita. All of the descriptive
terms meant by cetovimutti are negative. But D. J.
Kalupahana safeguards any misunderstanding impressed by their
negativity, saying that emerging from the "state of cessation" one
does not necessarily, however, lose the "freedom of thought", if
one had attained the knowledge of the "waning of influxes"[83].

In fine, the freedom of mind consists in
eliminating the restrictions that it imposes upon itself. The
system of Buddhist meditation points the way in which citta
can outgrow its own confines. One who achieves freedom comprehends
thus: Thus indeed states that have not been in me come to be;
having been they pass away. He, not feeling attracted by these
states, not feeling repelled, independent, not infatuated, freed,
released, dwells with a mind unconfined, comprehending: there is
greater freedom further on[84].

According to the teachings embodied in the
Nikāyas it is thus clear that the purified citta alone
is capable of understanding what is best for oneself, what is best
for others and the truth that transcends the sphere of the
untutored citta[85].
So the separateness of paññāvimutti and cetovimutti
as suggested by R. E. A. Johansson does not sound convincible.

5. Ethical Citta

As regard to ethical institution citta
is the determinant of one's purity or impurity. The Saṃyutta
Nikāya says that beings become defiled on account of the
defilement of their citta and, therefore, become purified
on account of the purification of their citta[86].
The Nikāya also gives us the cause and the reason of the
defilements: that is because their citta is given to
pleasure and is overwhelmed with pleasure and also is in pursuit
of pleasure, therefore beings are infatuated with pleasure, are
bound with pleasure and being in such bondage are thereby defiled
and corrupted by pleasure[87].
But in other cases citta plainly takes the role of one
among several motives deciding one's purity or impurity. Motives
of behavior are frequently enumerated in the Nikāyas.
Greed, hatred, illusion, not paying proper attention, a wrongly
directed citta is the cause of doing bad action, of
committing a bad action[88].
In a parallel passage, the opposites of these are given as motives
of good actions: freedom from greed, freedom from hatred, freedom
from illusion, proper attention, and rightly directed citta[89].

But in general, citta plays a central
role in the moral and intellectual behaviour of the individual. In
the untrained worldly individual citta is afflicted with
morally reprehensible needs and emotions[90].

6. Citta's Feasibility

That a man with well-controlled citta
can shake the earth is a conviction of the Buddhists who are
convinced by the following Nikāya passage: "A recluse or a
brahmin with magic power who has his citta well
controlled... may, by intense concentration on the minutest
portion of earth and on the image of the widest expanse of water,
make this earth move and tremble"[91].
Citta is used instrumentally for discerning something in
itself. The Pāli text says, "cetasā ceto paricca"[92].
And it is rendered in the case as 'grasping fully with one's mind'[93].
The meditational mind can also enable a bhikkhu to ascend
to the heavens. The Dīgha Nikāya relates a story about a
bhikkhu who by his meditational mind went up to the deva
realms where he could speak to the Maha Brahma, questioning
about the magga. We, by the way, could make the interesting
note that the Maha Brahma, in the manner he dealt with the
bhikkhu, is so human in terms of psychological trait. About
the ability of the Buddha it is noticeable that thanks to citta
in formlessness-meditation, and to elimination of some feelings,
the Buddha could make his physical body not subjected to painful
sensation.

Similarly, the Nikāya texts also
recorded the case where a monk who "attained so high a degree of
samādhi that with concentrated citta (samāhitecitte) he could see the way leading to the Brahmā-world
and spoke to them[94].
Another case is that by means of meditation a monk entered upon
the fire-element (tejo-dhātuṃ samāpajjitvā), rose in the
air to the height of seven palm trees and projected a flame to the
height of another seven palm trees, so that it blazed and glowed[95].
Psychologically speaking, it is possibly taken to mean that the
monk visualized light and fire during his samādhi and
experienced this so intensely that he projected it as real light
into the physical world. But in his experience there was no
difference between objective and subjective[96].

As we have already mentioned in the previous
chapter, the three kinds of unwholesome vitakka are
expelled in all and quite exclusively by those whose citta
is already well settled in the Foundations of Mindfulness, and
those who advance in 'animittaṃ samādhiṃ' (meditation of
formlessness). The DīghaNikāya says, "There are
these three evil ways of thought, brethren: thoughts of lust,
thoughts of ill-will, thoughts of hurting. And these evil ways of
thought cease utterly without remainder in him whose heart abides
established in the four stations of mindfulness, or who practices
concentration that is withdraws from objects"[97].

Citta trained and developed by
meditation can be of many healthy states expressed in compounds as
citta-kallatā: readiness of mind; citta-anupassanā:
introspective awareness of mind; citta-ujukatā: rectitude
of mind; citta-ekaggatā: one-pointedness of mind;
citta-passadhi: calmness of heart and serenity of mind;
citta-bhāvanā: development of mind; citta-kammaññatā:
pliancy of mind; citta-pāguññatā: proficiency of mind;
citta-lahutā: buoyancy of mind; citta-visuddhi:
purification of mind; citta-samādhi: concentration of mind;
citta-samodhāna: calming of thought; citta-vimutti
or ceto-vimutti: freedom of mind; citta-vūpasama:
tranquility of mind; citta-sampadā: attainment of bliss by
the mind[98].

The Buddha develops a scale of pleasures in
which superiority is given to the pleasure of the mind in
ascending level of jhāna. There is pleasure to be attained
from the five types of love-objects (kāmaguṇā), but better
is the pleasure in the first jhāna. But even this is
inferior to the pleasure in the second jhāna. Each level of
samādhi gives a greater pleasure than the preceding one.
The highest type of pleasure is experienced in the last stage of
jhāna: the cessation of ideation and sensation[99].

Citta through meditative cultivation
is able to get rid of emotional unstableness and characterized by
vūpasanta: calmed[100],
ānejjappatta: imperturbable[101],
avera: free from anger[102],
danta gutta rakkhita saṃvuta: tamed controlled guarded
restrained respectively[103],
anāvila: untroubled[104].
Instead of the emotion, mettā (friendliness) has been
developed[105].
It should be clear that Buddhist friendliness is
characteristically distinctive of emotional reaction. The
Majjhima Nikāya affirms that though the desires have gone,
there may still be motivation to activity, "that citta
which is free from desire, hatred and illusion - originating from
this there is skilled moral habits"[106].
Citta may incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance
and exertion[107].
As a result of the training, we find then a development from
impulsiveness and desire to will and determination, from
immaturity to maturity, from fickleness to character[108].

That citta properly trained would
achieve wisdom and freedom from āsavā is recorded in the
Dīgha Nikāya[109].
The monk can direct his citta and channel it towards the
deathless element[110].
This supports the conviction that citta is that which
attains nibbāna. "If a monk's citta is unattached to
the form-element (sensation, ideation, the activities,
consciousness) and is detached and free from the influxes without
building up, then it is steadfast by it freedom, content by its
steadfastness, and by being content it does not crave further: and
free from craving it by itself attains to parinibbāna"[111].

We have already seen in the third chapter
that a bhikkhu whose citta is well imbedded with
desirable qualities can apply or direct it to others' citta
and knows what are going on thereat, whether they are wholesome
with vīta-rāgaṃ, vīta-dosaṃ, vīta-mohaṃ, and
so forth; or unwholesome with sa-rāgaṃ, sa-dosaṃ,
sa-mohaṃ, and so forth. Generally, citta being well
cultivated would be equipped with many feasible qualities
especially the penetrating and discerning keenness or power that
helps in reading the citta of others. This ability in its
full-fledged development forms one of the six abhinnas of
the Buddhist highest sainthood, arahantship.

In this aspect, citta seems to be
similar to the Freudian concept of "ego" which in Buddhist
system should be tamed otherwise it can go astray and invite
undesirable aftermath: failure in the attainment of emancipation.
Whereas the Buddhist "I" whose function is to keep the advance of
one's personality to be always upwards is similar to the Freudian
"superego". And the dispute between "I" and citta
have already been disposed in the previous section.

(a) Negative Predicates and
Attributes of Citta

The following is an exposition of the
modifications of citta by the verbs predicated to it. More
than 30 verbs can be taken out from the Saṃyutta Nikāya
among which the most characteristic verb of citta is
cinteti: to think[113].
Other verbs can be listed as follows,

Adhimuccati:
It is drawn to, feels attached to, is inclined towards and
indulges in its object[114].

It is neither easy to classify the
above-listed verbs into active or passive thoroughly; nor is it,
into wholesome and unwholesome in terms of ethics. Anyhow, we can
with little arbitrariness drive them into three groups: negative,
positive, and situationally decidable groups. The verbs in the
last group can be decided only in virtue of the situation where
they occur.

Table 10

Negative

Positive

Situationally
Decidable

Adhimuccati

Matheti

Paggaṇhāti

Pariḍayhati

Rāgo cittaṃ anuddhaṃseti

Sajjati, hayhati, bajjhati

Vikampati

Vyāsinñcati

Ārādheti

Namati

Nivāreti

Passambhati

Tathattāyaupaneti

Pahaññati

Upasaṃharati

Panidahati

Pakkhandati, asīdati, santiṭṭhati

It is noted that in the 'Kāmavacara-Bhūmi' (sensuous world:
an Abhidhamma term) the negative aspect of citta
features prominently. Bigger in number than the negative verbs
predicated to citta as exposed above are the attributes of
citta in the morally unwholesome state. Those attributes are
listed as follows,

Ahata:
beaten, afflicted

Avimutta:
bound and fettered

Ātura:
sick

Bhanta:
swerving, swaying, staggering and deviating

Duppaṇihita:
misdirected

Duppavattiya:
difficult to direct on a steady course

Khitta:
upset and unhinged

Līna, atilīna:
clinging, sticking, slow, sluggish and dull

Lola:
longing, eager, greedy and unsteady

Nikaṭṭha:
debased, low

Pariyādinna:
obsessed

Pariyuṭṭhita:
wavering, wandering, straying, and confused

Saṃkilesa:
corrupt

Sāratta:
impassioned

Uddhata:
unbalanced disturbed, agitated, and shaken

Upakkiliṭṭha:
stained, depraved and impure

Vyāpanna:
malevolent

Vyāsitta:
defiled, corrupt, and tarnished

(b) Āsavā

We have already referred to āsavā
casually in the previous section. In the following pages we will
treat them more minutely. In early Buddhism there is the
conviction that on getting rid of all kinds of āsavā one
attains arahantship. It gives the impression that the two
coincide and somehow can be identified with each other. Āsavā
is a central concept in the Nikāyas, figuring prominently
in the chief portion of scriptures of early Buddhism. It is
intimately linked with the concept of citta on verge of the
latter's liberation. "When he knows and sees this, his mind is set
free from āsavā of love, of becoming, of ignorance, and as
he is freed he knows it: 'Birth is destroyed. The pure life has
been fulfilled. What had to be done is done. There will be nothing
more of this'"[131].

The āsavā are literally rendered as
intoxicating secretion, discharge from a festering wound, hence
psychologically 'mental intoxicant'. The four types of mental
intoxication are given as kāma, bhava, diṭṭhi, and
avijjā whose renderings are sensuality, lust of life,
speculation, and ignorance respectively. 'Influx', 'bias', 'flood'
are also used as its rendering. 'Flood stands for ogha in
Pāli[132].

But all the renderings suggested above do not
seem satisfactory because, in R. E. A. Johansson's opinion,
āsava connotes both the temptations inherent in the
perceptions and our yielding to them, both the ignorance leading
to misinterpretation and speculation and the ego interests
which procure identification with external things and unrealistic
hopes for the future. He suggests the new rendering "inflation"
though "influx" is also preferable. "Inflation" signifies any
tendency for a mental content to attain exaggerated importance to
the individual. It is mainly used as "ego-inflation" or
"inflated ego-values", meaning an exaggerated egocentrism[133].

Accordingly, kāmāsavā or "inflation
sensuality" would mean a tendency to react emotionally to things,
to find pleasure in beauty and sense gratifications, developing an
aesthetic attitude to life. Bhavāsava, the "inflation of
growth and perpetuation", would signify a desire to live in and
for the future, to dream about immortality and to plan for a
better existence in this or a future life. Diṭṭhāsava, the
"inflation of speculation", would be the tendency to avoid
realities and escape to theoretical speculations and also taking
pride in winning debates. The last but the chief avijjāsava
would mean "inflation of unrealism", i.e. a tendency to see
personal references in external things and to find an ego
within oneself. As a result, things like jewels and adornments are
seen as valuable, one feels proud of success and gains, one
becomes sensitive to the judgments of others and feels flattered
or abused[134].

The tendency to self-assertion seems to be
the most basic idea expressed through the word āsavā. That
is why āsavā are the chief force behind the ego
illusion. As long as the personality is kept focussed by egoistic
ambitions, there will be a unity that can be reborn: the āsavā
are "ponobhavikā" (leading to rebirth)[135].
The Majjhima Nikāya reserves its entire second sutta
the Sabbāsavasutta for dealing with the elimination of
āsavā. The sutta consists in seven methods for getting rid of
āsavās, they being treated one by one in detail in the
following.

(1) Dasana:
"vision" is explained as man's patence of selection in regard to
which kind of objects one should concern with and which kind of
objects one should not. The text runs: "... (he) does not
comprehend the things which should be wisely attended to, does not
comprehend the things which should not be wisely attended to. He,
not comprehending the things that should be wisely attended to,
not comprehending the things that should not be wisely attended
to, wisely attends to those things which should not be wisely
attended to, does not wisely attend to those things which should
be wisely attended to"[136].
In research term, the variable here is not wise attention but is
the recommendable kind of object which attention is to be made to.

The passage seems
to suggest on the one hand that 'wisely attending' is not enough,
if 'wisely attending' is applied to the undesirable things,
āsavās still have good chance. On the other hand, 'Wisely
attending' as standing for yoniso manasikāraṃ implies
'attention to the means, the Way'; the opposite ayoniso
manasikāraṃ is meant for not attending to the means, or
attending to (or, in) the wrong way, turning the mind against the
truth so that you think permanence is in the impermanent,
happiness in suffering, self in what is not-self, and the fair in
the foul[137]
and since a lack of yoniso manasikāraṃ one 'wisely attends
to those things which should not be wisely attended to'. In fine,
yoniso manasikāraṃ seems to have double meaning: On one
hand, it is characteristically good in nature; on the other hand,
as to the selection of which that should be attended it in effect
is helpful and decisive. This double meaning is also suggested by
the modern psychologist William James who argues in The
Principle of Psychology that attending to an idea is identical
with believing it, which, in turn, is identical with willing that
it be realized[138].

In the line with
his psychological reasoning R. E. A. Johansson suggests a
deviatory reliable interpretation. By dasana it is meant
proper attention and insight as well. If sense information is
accepted with a realistic attitude, it is properly understood, and
theoretical constructions are avoided. In this case a change of
attitude and act of insight may be most important and that would
explain why it is sometimes pointed out that freedom from āsavā
is attained suddenly. The Saṃyutta Nikāya relates that
"When this instruction was given, the venerable Rāhula's
mind was freed from the inflations without grasping"[139].

As a means for
expelling āsavā (2) saṃvara, "control" conveys the
idea of goading the sense channels so as to keep the information
free from undue reaction.

Things are used
only for their strictly functional purpose and all ego-purposes
are avoided. For instance, clothes are used only for protection,
almsfood is collected merely for keeping the body alive, and so
on. That is the idea expressed by (3) paṭ-isevana: "use".

(4) Adhivāsana:
"endurance" give the instruction that all difficult or unpleasant
circumstances should be faced and endured without self-pity or
other ego-involved reactions. For instance, due reactions
should be applied to cold, heat, hunger, thirst, the touch of
gadfly, mosquito, wind and sun, creeping things, ways of speech
that are irksome and unwelcome. All those things may create
feelings that are painful, acute, sharp, shooting, disagreeable,
miserable, and deadly. By the way it is noted that a person under
twenty years of age is not considered able to endure these
hardships, and is therefore not to be ordained at such an early
age[140].

(5)
Parivajjana: "avoidance" is explained that dangerous objects
or situations are to be avoided. Specified are fierce elephant,
horse, bull, dog, snake; the stump of a tree, a thorny brake, a
deep hole, a mountain slope, a refuse pool, a rubbish pit;
unallowable seat, resort; those who are depraved friends so as to
avoid being suspected of depraved qualities. (6) Vinodana:
"elimination" determines that sensual, malevolent and aggressive
thoughts must be expelled from the mind. (7) Bhāvanā:
"application" here means the method that is explained as the seven
"limbs of enlightenment". Mainly bhāvanā is used about
meditation. By means of sati, "mindfulness", the
sense-channels are continuously watched and no unrealistic
reactions are admitted: "Having destroyed all building activity I
live so mindful that the inflations flow no more into me"[141].
The arahant who has destroyed the inflations is called
puggala appameyya[142],
"an immeasurable person", which perhaps means that he is not
self-centred or confined to his own narrow interests but has
expelled all unrealistic superstructures and has become open and
impersonal[143].

(c) Noxious Trio: Rāga, Dosa, and
Moha

As fundamental blemishes of character,
rāga, dosa, and moha are rendered as passion or lust,
ill-will, and infatuation respectively. Their other variant
renderings are uncontrolled excitement, anger, and bewilderment,
respectively. These three appear in manifold combination with
similar terms, all giving various shades of the "craving for
existence" or "lust of life", or all that which is an obstacle to
nibbāna. It should be noted that the set rāga, dosa,
and moha is not strictly fixed in terms of number and of
member as well. There are several variant versions: rāga, dosa,
moha, and kilesa; rāga, dosa, moha, and kodha.
Quite often is the version: rāga, dosa, moha, and māna;
one more member diṭṭhi is sometimes added[144].
Dosa and moha in general are complementary to
rāga. The combination of them forms the cardinal effects of
citta, making a man unable to grasp the higher truths and to
enter the Path[145].

In general, these three words are used almost
exclusively to denote reprehensible motives, but they can also be
found in more positive contexts. There is description of a monk
who has reached a certain level of development and can attain
first jhāna but can not realize the destruction of the
influxes; "but by his desire for the doctrine, by his delight in
the doctrine, he bursts the five fetters binding him to this world
and is reborn in a spiritual world"[146].
Desire for the doctrine will, therefore, lead to a good result. In
another context, chanda, dosa, moha, and bhaya
(=ambition, hatred, illusion, and fear, respectively) are
enumerated as motives for giving gifts to monks[147].
This observation that bad motives sometimes can be used for good
purposes betrays an interesting insight into the intricacies of
human motivation[148].

Other synonyms of rāga are kāma
and taṇhā. In its objective aspect, kāma means
pleasantness, pleasure-giving, and an object of sensual enjoyment.
Subjectively, kāma denotes enjoyment, pleasure on occasion
of sense; sense-desire. So kāma covers the sense-desire,
enjoyment, and the objects of the same. In all enumerations of
obstacles to perfection, or general definitions of mental
conditions, kāma occupies the leading position. It is the
first of the five nīvaraṇāni (obstacles), the three
esanās (desires, or longings, or wishes), the four upādānas
(attachments), the four oghas (floods of worldly
turbulence), the four āsavās. In the last four, kāma
is used in replacement of rāga.

Moreover, kāma also takes the leading
position of the three taṇhās, the four yogas (yoke,
connection, and bond). And kāma stands first on the list of
the six factors of existence. Kāma is most frequently
connected with rāga (passion), with chanda
(impulse), and gedha (greed), all expressing the active,
clinging, and impulsive character of desire. The following is the
list of synonyms given at various places throughout the Buddhist
scriptures for kāma-cchanda: chanda (impulse),
rāga (excitement), nandī (enjoyment), taṇhā
(thirst), sineha (love), pipāsā (thirst),
pariḷāha (consuming passion), gedha (greed), mucchā
(swoon, or confused state of mind), ajjhosāna (hanging on,
or attachment).

Kāma is essentially an evil, but to
the popular view it is one of the indispensable attributes of
bliss and happiness to be enjoyed as a reward of virtue in this
world as well as in the next, i. e. the other world. And the
other-world pleasures are greater than the earthly ones[149];
but to the Wise even these are unsatisfactory, since they still
are signs of, and lead to, rebirth. Kāma is characterized
by evanescence, transience[150],
and apāsādā (no real taste).

Kāmas do not give permanent
satisfaction; the happiness that they yield is only a deception,
or a dream, from which the dreamer awakens sorrowful and
regretful. Therefore the Buddha says "Even though the pleasure is
great, the regret is greater" and he repeatedly pronounces in
terms of simile that the kāmas are likened to (1)
aṭṭhi-kankhala: a chain of bones; (2) maṃsapesi: a
piece of (decaying) flesh; (3) tiṇukkā: a torch of grass;
(4) angāra-kāsu: a pit of glowing cinder; (5) supina:
a dream; (6) yācita: beggings; (7) rukkha-phala: the
fruit of a tree; (8) asisūna: a slaughter-house; (9)
satti-sūla: a sharp stake; (10) sappa-sira: a snake's
head, i.e. the bite of a snake[151].
Though kāma is rarely used in positive contexts we still
find some, for example, "A man loving the good, loving the
beneficial, loving security from bonds, this is a synonym for a
Tathāgata"[152].

Among the negative motives, kāma is
one of those most frequently mentioned and also one of the most
categorically condemned. The term occurs alone but also combined
with upādāna and āsavā. There is also kāmataṇhā[153]
and kāmacchanda[154].
It is difficult to find a translation of kāma that can be
used in all contexts. Its central meaning offered by R. E. A.
Johansson is the description: an extroverted feeling and
attachment, dependence on external things, a pleasure attitude,
sensuality, a passion for life. It is only an emotion but also a
strong motive, for pleasure-seeking activities, for building a
pleasure-loving personality, for creating a kāma-world and
prolonging, renewing existence in this world of sensuality[155].

To describe kāma it is tempting to use
the psychoanalytical phrases, "the pleasure principle" and "libido
investment" so as to cover its central meaning. Both can be used
to mean the sexuality in its narrow sense as well as the enjoyment
of the five senses in general. The libido as explained in
modern psychology resembles the Buddhist concept of kāma-tanha:
craving for the sense-gratification. Craving for
sense-gratification is a manifestation of greed; and greed is a
basic root of unwholesome motivation. This Buddhist term "root" is
conceived in psychology as motive, force, drive, instinct,
inclination, etc. But "root" is a more appropriate term, for while
it suggests the cause of unwholesome (as well as wholesome)
motivation, it also implies the possibility of rooting out
completely those forces without leaving even that "bit of
unconquerable nature in each of us" at which Freudian psychology
as well as modern psychology stop[156].

The last term noticeable under this heading
should be taṇhā. It literally means drought, thirst;
figuratively, craving, hunger for, excitement, the fever of
unsatisfied longing. All this is opposed to peace of citta.
Taṇhā is one of the most frequently mentioned motives
leading to undesirable results. It is, however, rarely said to
motivate action, rather a sentiment of interest and dependence.
"There are these six groups of craving: craving for forms, for
sounds, for odours, for tastes, for contacts, for ideas"[157];
these are cravings for experiences and possessions.

There are three series of three types:
kāma, bhava, vibhava (=craving for love, for growth, and for
annihilation, respectively); kāma, rūpa, arūpa
(=craving for love, for form, and for the formless, respectively);
rūpa, arūpa, nirodha (=craving for form, for the formless,
and for cessation, respectively)[158].
They probably refer to different types of existence now and in the
future: Kāma is the world of sensuality, in which we are
living now. Rūpa and arūpa are the form-world and
the formless world in which a future rebirth is possible. Most
interesting is nirodha, which refers to the cessation of
everything that is negative, i.e. it is a word for nibbāna;
this shows that even taṇhā can be a desirable motive. But
usually "craving is the seamstress, for it sews a man just to this
ever-becoming birth"[159].

(d) Cetokhila and Cetaso Vinibandhā

In Indian literature the term khila
denoted "a piece of wasted and uncultivated land situated between
cultivated fields," or a stretch of "desert" or "bare soil". This
implies that khila was a gap or space not productively
filled up. Buddhism has taken the term in its figurative sense of
'barrenness' and hence the meaning for cetokhila as
'barrenness of mind', implying an uncultivated gap, so to say,
between one's mental and moral achievements reached up to a point,
on the one hand, and the final goal in one's upward way to
perfection, on the other. As one who has overcome or was never
subject to this condition, the Buddha for instance describes
himself as vigatakhila.

As factors causing mental barrenness
khilas are placed in two categories of five and three; the two
mutually differing both in concept and magnitude. Firstly,
khila may be said to result through a lack of the
pre-requisite for the cultivation of the citta in the
Buddhist sense. This would promote the germination of good states
of citta. This is the inclination of or desire of the
bhikkhu for striving as expressed by the terms ātappa
(ardour), anuyoga (application), sātacca
(perseverance) and padhāna (exertion) which it is implied,
stems directly from the absence of doubt and the presence of
faith, trust and reassurance one has in the teacher, the doctrine,
the community, the training and good-will and friendliness towards
one's fellows in a higher life[160].
Therefore, the absence of such inclination (cittaṃ na namati)
for striving resulting from doubt and lack of faith, trust and
reassurance in the first four and through anger, dissatisfaction,
unfriendliness and callosity towards the fifth is itself an
obstruction to mental progress[161].

The three factors causing mental barrenness
are identical with the three fundamental blemishes of character,
which we have already discussed above, viz., rāga, dosa and
moha. The eradication of which constitutes emancipation. As
technical terms of Buddhist philosophy and ethics these three
often appear in combination with other terms too, when dealing
with the obstacles to the attainment of nibbāna. However,
their classification as 'the three khilas' is referred to
only once in the Nikāyas, viz. the Saṃyutta Nikāya.
In this Nikāya, it is said that in order to recognize them,
to understand them, to destroy them and to completely give them up
the Noble Eightfold Path has to be followed[162].

The five cetokhilas are usually
followed up by the five cetaso vinibandhā: (1) attachment
to sense pleasures, (2) attachment to one's body, (3) attachment
to beauty of form, (4) addiction to sleep after heavy meals, and
(5) leading the higher life with a view to rebirth among the gods.
The five are usually enumerated immediately after the five
cetokhilas[163].
It is maintained that the five cetokhilas and the five
cetaso vinibandhā are states of citta leading to one's
downfall[164],
and the bhikkhu or bhikkhuṇī who has not overcome
them should day and night expect a decline and not progress in
everything good[165].
Such a person cannot expect a growth, furtherance and a full
development in the Buddhist religious life[166].

8. The Taming of
Citta

By virtue of pursuing the religious life
ardently, a monk has power over his citta; he is not the
slave of his citta[167].
The method of getting one's citta under control is
samādhi[168]
though Citta is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back[169].
It is difficult but important task to train citta, because
when citta is unguarded, bodily action is also unguarded,
speech and mental action are also unguarded[170].
As regard to one's emancipation it is therefore necessary to
distinguish between the untrained and the trained citta.
The "natural" citta is the center of all undesirable
qualities such as greed, hatred, and illusion[171].

Let us come back to the notion of Freudian
ego that in several aspects corresponds to Buddhist
citta. In Freud's framework citta as ego is
necessary to be tamed by the super-ego. Freud built up a
new conception of the structure of personality: the id,
ego, and superego. The id is the unconscious
reservoir of drives and impulses derived from the genetic
background and concerned with the preservation and propagation of
life. The ego, according to Freud, operates in conscious
and preconscious levels of awareness. It is the portion of the
personality concerned with the tasks of reality: perception,
cognition, and executive actions. In the superego lie the
individual's environmentally derived ideals and values and the
mores of his family and society; the superego serves as a
censor on the ego functions. Just as we ordinarily identify
ourselves with the ego, so citta is the "natural
self" in a functional sense. But there, according to Freud, is a
superego, that is sometimes critical of citta, as
discussed in the previous section, and may want to subjugate it
and change it by means of the Buddhist training[172].

Freudian system seems to be structural in
language whereas early Buddhism pushes all the things into flow or
process. And, there are good reasons to talk about citta as
process or function. The compound for it is cittasaṅkhāra[173],
which in sutta 9 of the Majjhima Nikāyas, is
presented under "process of body, process of speech, process of
mind"[174].
The whole sutta is an answer to the question about how to
achieve saddhamma (the true dhamma)[175].
The context of the saṅkhāras shows that taking them as
facts is due to not knowing and that the opposite possibility is
sammādiṭṭhī (right view), as a part of the saddhamma[176].

These three processes are bound to have been
ceased and calmed in a person who has achieved cetovimutti
(release of the mind)[177].
This is known by one who has a developed citta, and he also
realizes that citta-processes include activities of
perception and feeling. These are dhammā-cittapatibaddha (dhamma
depending upon mind)[178].
So too processes of citta can be experienced and calmed
down as part of a whole training toward the goal of making
citta, while still studied, into vimoceti (a released
mind)[179].

The Sāmaññaphala Sutta of the Dīgha
Nikāya describes eight stages of prescribed mental studies, in
which the disciple, having carefully prepared himself by much
cathartic elimination in mood and thought, "much brings out and
much bends down the citta"[180]
to these stages. He first considers his body, its origin and
composition, and how "for me the viññāṇa (surviving-mind)
is here nestled and bound just as a beauty cat's-eye of pure water
(looks when) strung upon a coloured thread". We have here the
viññāṇa viewed as somehow 'in' or dependent on the bodily
life, and as influenced by it, as the translucent gem would be,
optically, by the colour of the thread. Hence the taming of
viññāṇa or citta have much to do with that of the body,
both somehow being inseparable.

Citta subjugated and developed
properly in Buddhist training is quite potential, the Nikāya
texts say, "a recluse or a brahmin with magic power who has
his mind well controlled... may, by intense concentration on the
image of the widest expanse of water, make this earth move and
tremble"[181].
And, free ideas are a function of citta that is said to be
provided with ideas of impermanence, not-self, danger,
disinterestedness and so on[182].

Besides being mastermind of the mental
processes, Citta in the process of one's emancipation seems
to be instrumental so it should be improved, sharpened or cleaned
in order to become more effective. The ambition and desire in the
eye (and other senses) is a defilement of citta. When these
impurities are got rid of and citta is fortified with
renunciation, then it appears to be pliable for penetrating those
things that are to be realized[183].
The trained citta will attain paññā, and freedom
from the āsāva (influx)[184].

That the Majjhima Nikāya reserves the
entire second sutta dealing with āsāva suggests
their importance in hindering the progress of one's emancipation.
Āsāva literally means that which flow (out or onto),
outflow and influx. In Buddhist psychology, it is a technical term
for certain specified ideas that intoxicate the mind. Freedom from
"āsavā" constitutes Arahantship, and the fight for
the extinction of these āsavā forms one of the main duties
of man[185].
The four types of mental intoxication are given as kāma:
sensuality; bhava: lust of life; diṭṭhi:
speculation; and avijjā: ignorance[186].

The Saṃyutta Nikāya says, "Suppose I
were to collect body, sensation, ideation, activities,
consciousness. Conditioned by that collection, there would be
growth..."[187].
The passage indicates that a collecting or building activity goes
on during the present life. On the contrary, the disciple of the
noble one who "reduces and does not heaps up; who abandons and
does not collect; who scatters and does not bind together; who
quenches and does not kindle; and what does he reduce and does not
heap it up? He reduces body (sensation, etc.) and does not heap it
up". And further: "he is called a monk, further down qualified as
vimutticitta: with a free mind"[188].

So vimutticitta here can be described
as the citta freed from the heaping, collecting, binding,
kindling, of the five factors. This gives the impression that the
five factors, i. e. the whole personality should be retrograded;
and to achieve vimutticitta is to complete the
retrogradation. On the other hand, retrogradation of personality's
five factors deliberately caused by oneself seems to be a type of
suicide because in Buddhist system it is confirmed that one's
whole personality consists in the five factors per se, and
nothing else.

In regard to the speculative issue, R. E. A.
Johansson offers a suggestion that after attaining nibbāna,
the arahant still has his conscious life, which is the same
as saying that he still has citta. But his citta is
very much transformed, characterized by stability, reduction in
the paṭiccasamuppāda series have ceased. Only activities
and thoughts that do not produce kammic effects remain. All
expansiveness and external engagement has disappeared. But
citta has not lost its individual character, although
stability and 'emptiness' prevail[189].